$20 an Hour Is How Much a Year?
At 40 hours a week, $20 an hour is $41,600 a year before taxes — $3,467 a month, $1,600 every two weeks, $800 a week. After federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare, a single filer keeps about $35,606 in a state with no income tax and $34,781 in California. That is an after-tax rate of $17.12 per hour.
$20 an hour by hours worked
The $$41,600 figure assumes 2,080 paid hours — 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, the convention payroll systems and the Bureau of Labor Statistics use. Unpaid time off reduces it; paid holidays and vacation do not. Part-time schedules scale in a straight line:
| Hours / week | Weekly | Biweekly | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | $400 | $800 | $1,733 | $20,800 |
| 25 | $500 | $1,000 | $2,167 | $26,000 |
| 30 | $600 | $1,200 | $2,600 | $31,200 |
| 35 | $700 | $1,400 | $3,033 | $36,400 |
| 40 (full-time) | $800 | $1,600 | $3,467 | $41,600 |
Federal taxes on $41,600
For 2026 the standard deduction is $16,100 for a single filer, so $41,600 of wages becomes $25,500 of taxable income, which reaches the 12% federal bracket. Federal income tax comes to $2,812. Social Security takes 6.2% ($2,579) and Medicare 1.45% ($603). Total federal withholding: $5,994, leaving $35,606 — or $2,967 a month — before any state tax.
A married couple filing jointly on the same $41,600 keeps $37,478, $1,872 more, because the joint standard deduction is $32,200 and the brackets are twice as wide.
$20 an hour after taxes in every state (2026)
State income tax is where $41,600 starts to diverge. Nine states take nothing; Oregon takes the most at this income. Every row applies that state's real 2026 brackets and standard deduction for a single filer.
| # | State | State + local tax | Take-home | Monthly | Effective rate | After-tax / hr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska | $0 | $35,606 | $2,967 | 14.4% | $17.12 |
| 2 | Florida | $0 | $35,606 | $2,967 | 14.4% | $17.12 |
| 3 | Nevada | $0 | $35,606 | $2,967 | 14.4% | $17.12 |
| 4 | New Hampshire | $0 | $35,606 | $2,967 | 14.4% | $17.12 |
| 5 | North Dakota | $0 | $35,606 | $2,967 | 14.4% | $17.12 |
| 6 | South Dakota | $0 | $35,606 | $2,967 | 14.4% | $17.12 |
| 7 | Tennessee | $0 | $35,606 | $2,967 | 14.4% | $17.12 |
| 8 | Texas | $0 | $35,606 | $2,967 | 14.4% | $17.12 |
| 9 | Washington | $0 | $35,606 | $2,967 | 14.4% | $17.12 |
| 10 | Wyoming | $0 | $35,606 | $2,967 | 14.4% | $17.12 |
| 11 | Ohio | $428 | $35,178 | $2,931 | 15.4% | $16.91 |
| 12 | Arizona | $638 | $34,968 | $2,914 | 15.9% | $16.81 |
| 13 | New Jersey | $751 | $34,855 | $2,905 | 16.2% | $16.76 |
| 14 | New Mexico | $822 | $34,784 | $2,899 | 16.4% | $16.72 |
| 15 | California | $825 | $34,781 | $2,898 | 16.4% | $16.72 |
| 16 | Louisiana | $873 | $34,733 | $2,894 | 16.5% | $16.70 |
| 17 | South Carolina | $888 | $34,717 | $2,893 | 16.5% | $16.69 |
| 18 | Mississippi | $932 | $34,674 | $2,889 | 16.6% | $16.67 |
| 19 | Iowa | $969 | $34,637 | $2,886 | 16.7% | $16.65 |
| 20 | Vermont | $975 | $34,631 | $2,886 | 16.8% | $16.65 |
| 21 | Missouri | $990 | $34,616 | $2,885 | 16.8% | $16.64 |
| 22 | Colorado | $1,122 | $34,484 | $2,874 | 17.1% | $16.58 |
| 23 | North Carolina | $1,151 | $34,454 | $2,871 | 17.2% | $16.56 |
| 24 | Rhode Island | $1,151 | $34,454 | $2,871 | 17.2% | $16.56 |
| 25 | West Virginia | $1,152 | $34,453 | $2,871 | 17.2% | $16.56 |
| 26 | Montana | $1,199 | $34,407 | $2,867 | 17.3% | $16.54 |
| 27 | Wisconsin | $1,199 | $34,406 | $2,867 | 17.3% | $16.54 |
| 28 | Nebraska | $1,231 | $34,374 | $2,865 | 17.4% | $16.53 |
| 29 | Pennsylvania | $1,277 | $34,328 | $2,861 | 17.5% | $16.50 |
| 30 | Kentucky | $1,338 | $34,267 | $2,856 | 17.6% | $16.47 |
| 31 | Idaho | $1,352 | $34,254 | $2,855 | 17.7% | $16.47 |
| 32 | Oklahoma | $1,416 | $34,190 | $2,849 | 17.8% | $16.44 |
| 33 | Minnesota | $1,426 | $34,180 | $2,848 | 17.8% | $16.43 |
| 34 | Arkansas | $1,448 | $34,158 | $2,847 | 17.9% | $16.42 |
| 35 | Maine | $1,479 | $34,127 | $2,844 | 18.0% | $16.41 |
| 36 | Hawaii | $1,512 | $34,094 | $2,841 | 18.0% | $16.39 |
| 37 | Michigan | $1,522 | $34,084 | $2,840 | 18.1% | $16.39 |
| 38 | Kansas | $1,522 | $34,084 | $2,840 | 18.1% | $16.39 |
| 39 | Georgia | $1,536 | $34,069 | $2,839 | 18.1% | $16.38 |
| 40 | Delaware | $1,606 | $34,000 | $2,833 | 18.3% | $16.35 |
| 41 | Connecticut | $1,622 | $33,984 | $2,832 | 18.3% | $16.34 |
| 42 | Virginia | $1,646 | $33,960 | $2,830 | 18.4% | $16.33 |
| 43 | New York | $1,649 | $33,956 | $2,830 | 18.4% | $16.33 |
| 44 | Alabama | $1,699 | $33,906 | $2,826 | 18.5% | $16.30 |
| 45 | Utah | $1,851 | $33,754 | $2,813 | 18.9% | $16.23 |
| 46 | Massachusetts | $1,860 | $33,746 | $2,812 | 18.9% | $16.22 |
| 47 | Indiana | $1,908 | $33,697 | $2,808 | 19.0% | $16.20 |
| 48 | Illinois | $1,918 | $33,687 | $2,807 | 19.0% | $16.20 |
| 49 | Maryland | $2,912 | $32,694 | $2,724 | 21.4% | $15.72 |
| 50 | Oregon | $3,083 | $32,523 | $2,710 | 21.8% | $15.64 |
The gap between Alaska ($35,606) and Oregon ($32,523) is $3,083 a year at $20 an hour — $257 a month. Use the state comparison tool to put two specific states side by side.
Overtime at $20 an hour
Time-and-a-half on $20 is $30.00 an hour. Overtime is taxed as ordinary income — the 22% figure people quote is a withholding rate on supplemental pay, not a separate tax — so what you keep depends on your bracket. For tax years 2025 through 2028 the One Big Beautiful Bill Act also allows a federal deduction for the premium portion of qualified overtime pay (up to $12,500 for a single filer), which this table does not include; see the overtime tax calculator for the deduction-aware figure.
| Overtime / week | Extra gross / year | New annual gross | Extra take-home (fed + FICA) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 hours | $7,800 | $49,400 | +$6,267 |
| 10 hours | $15,600 | $57,200 | +$12,535 |
Is $20 an hour a good wage?
At $20 an hour you are at or above every state minimum wage and earn 2.8× the federal floor. The $41,600 annual figure is still under the roughly $62,000 a median full-time American worker earns, and about 50% of the $83,700 median household income — which usually means two earners. The 30%-of-gross rule puts a comfortable rent ceiling near $1,040 a month. Nearly all of this income falls in the 12% federal bracket, so each extra dollar earned keeps about 80 cents after federal tax and FICA in a no-income-tax state.
Every $1-an-hour raise adds $2,080 a year before tax — about $1,671 after federal tax and FICA at this income. Negotiating from $20 to $22 is therefore worth roughly $3,343 a year in your pocket, before state tax.